How to Combine Email and Social Media Marketing Efforts to Maximize ROI
Brands are expected to spend $247 billion on social media marketing in 2024 to fight for consumers’ attention. With people spending more than two hours a day on social media, brands would be foolish not to spend their ad dollars on social platforms, right?
According to recent data, brands may have it all wrong. For every dollar businesses spend on social media, they get $5 back. Even though this is considered a good return on investment (ROI), other marketing channels, such as email, perform seven times better.
Email marketing has a ROI of 3600 percent worldwide and 7200 percent in the U.S. This means that businesses get $36 for every dollar they spend on email marketing, or $72 if they are based in the U.S.
Brands are expected to spend $247 billion on social media marketing in 2024 to fight for consumers’ attention. With people spending more than two hours a day on social media, brands would be foolish not to spend their ad dollars on social platforms, right?
According to recent data, brands may have it all wrong. For every dollar businesses spend on social media, they get $5 back. Even though this is considered a good return on investment (ROI), other marketing channels, such as email, perform seven times better.
Email marketing has a ROI of 3600 percent worldwide and 7200 percent in the U.S. This means that businesses get $36 for every dollar they spend on email marketing, or $72 if they are based in the U.S.
People don’t open their social media apps to view ads; they’re just a part of the experience. With email, it’s the opposite. People choose to receive them. When they open their inboxes, they’re looking to shop and you have their attention.
Email Marketing Outperforms Social Media Marketing
The ROI difference alone isn't the only metric that proves how email marketing outperforms social media. Consider the following:
The Power of Back-in-Stock Email Marketing
For e-commerce brands, it’s not the year of the dragon, it’s the year of the back-in-stock message. Automated back-in-stock message sends have been on a multiyear rise. In 2023, brands sent 4x as many as the year before, generating 3x the number of orders than the year before.
Back-in-stock messages perform exceptionally well compared to their email marketing counterparts. Their 60 percent open rate is higher than any other marketing email. The 19 percent click rate far outpaces the next best automation email, product abandonment, which has a 6.2 percent click rate. And when it comes to conversion rate, it’s not even close: back-in-stock messages see a conversion rate of 5.8 percent, more than double that of welcome messages, the second-best automated email.
Why do back-in-stock messages perform so well?
For e-commerce brands, it’s not the year of the dragon, it’s the year of the back-in-stock message. Automated back-in-stock message sends have been on a multiyear rise. In 2023, brands sent 4x as many as the year before, generating 3x the number of orders than the year before.
Back-in-stock messages perform exceptionally well compared to their email marketing counterparts. Their 60 percent open rate is higher than any other marketing email. The 19 percent click rate far outpaces the next best automation email, product abandonment, which has a 6.2 percent click rate. And when it comes to conversion rate, it’s not even close: back-in-stock messages see a conversion rate of 5.8 percent, more than double that of welcome messages, the second-best automated email.
Why do back-in-stock messages perform so well?
They combine a consumer’s shopping desire with social proof and a fear of loss. It’s the same trifecta that works so well for shopping cart abandonment messages which highlight that the items left behind may sell out fast.
The difference is that with cart abandonment messages the shopper has yet to miss out on anything. Their products are still in their cart and they remain in control. With back-in-stock messages, the consumer feels timing pressure. After all, the items sold out once, and they likely will again.
Here are a few tips for e-commerce merchants looking to effectively use back-in-stock messages to increase sales:
My Reading & Podcast List
Here is my list of recent reads and podcasts I am currently enjoying. Maybe they’ll give you something new to look into and enjoy.
Read more to find what I’ve been digging into lately, including:
Building a Story Brand
The Power of Geography
The Greatest Beer Run Ever. A Crazy Adventure In a Crazy War
The Escape Artist. The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
Devil in the White City. Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Here is a list of books I’ve recently read and podcasts I listen to. I hope they give you something new to look into and enjoy.
Recent reads
Bad Company
Bootstrapping Bronto: The Art of Scaling Your Startup Without Venture Capital
Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America's Nazis
Careless People
War Made Invisible
The Weirdest People in the World
The Let Them Theory
The Path Between Two Seas
Fish
The Lost City of Z
Building a Story Brand
The Power of Geography
The Greatest Beer Run Ever. A Crazy Adventure In a Crazy War
The Escape Artist. The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
Devil in the White City. Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
You Can Read Anyone. Never Be Fooled, Lied To, or Taken Advantage of Again
Key West (by John Breakfield)
Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter, and Beyond. The Life of Astronomer Vera Rubin.
The Wager. A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder
The Forgotten 500. The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of WWII
The Spy and the Traitor. The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
Everything Happens for a Reason
Night (by Elie Wiesel)
Waxing On. The Karate Kid and Me
The Power of Letting Go. How to Drop Everything That’s Holding You Back
The Power of Regret. How Looking Backward Helps Us Move Forward
The Recruiter. Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence
Killers of the Flower Moon
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
How to be Perfect. The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
The Age of AI and Our Human Future
A Promised Land
A Colorful Way of Living. How to Be More, Create More, Do More, the Vera Bradley Way
Talking to Strangers
The Soulful Art of Persuasion. The 11 Habits That Will Make Anyone a Master Influencer
Measure What Matters. OKRs — The Simple Idea That Drives 10x Growth
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Let The Elephants Run: Unlock Your Creativity and Change Everything
SCRUM: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time
The CEO Next Door
Ask Powerful Questions: Create Conversations that Matter
Cold Hard Truth in Men, Women, and Money
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (review: eh).
Podcasts I enjoy
Revisionist History
Armchair Expert
Here’s Where it Gets Interesting
RetailGentic
Give it a Chance
History That Doesn’t Suck
Smartless
StarTalk Radio
The Playcaller’s Club
This Week in Virology
The Dollop
Two Cool Moms
Today in Digital Marketing
The Pitch
The Jason & Scot Show
Examples of Back in Stock Email Marketing, Complete with Subject Lines
Back-in-stock notifications may be the highest-performing automated emails a brand sends. In this post, you’ll find top-tier example subject lines, performance stats (60% open, 19% click, 5.8% conversion), and five immediate tactics you can apply to your e-commerce email flows.
How Effective are back-in-stock messages?
In 2024, Back-in-stock messages had a 59.2% open rate, 19.5% click rate, and a 5.3% conversion rate. This was the highest conversion rate of ANY automated message, by far. Consider these must-have automated email messages for brands — both automated and scheduled campaigns.
Here are a few tips for ecommerce brands looking to use back-in-stock messages to increase sales.
Provide early access with back-in-stock automation
Use a sense of urgency and fear of loss in your messaging
Don’t feel the need to discount
Tailor messages to specific products when necessary
Include product recommendations
Back-in-Stock Email Marketing Examples
What’s the best back-in-stock subject line to use?
The best back-in-stock subject line uses a sense of urgency and combines it with the term “back.” This combines the urgency with social proof (they sold out once, they will again). A good example is “Back in Stock, But Not For Long.”
Examples of The Perfect Back-in-stock email subject line
Here are some back-in-stock email message subject lines used by real brands:
Top Sellers Back in Stock😍
🐍Back in ssssssssstock
Restocked! Ribbed Cotton Range Is BACK
Back in Stock: Lafeber Products
BACK IN STOCK: The Henley
THEY’RE BACK ⚡
URGENT: It’s Back In Stock!
Back in Stock 🌿 CBD Truffles
Back In Stock? Enough Said.
The wait is over: ramen is back!
Greg, SILK BEDDING BACK IN STOCK
Your fave Birkenstock style is BACK!
Back In Stock...
Back & Selling Fast!
Your fave camera bag is back in new colors!
LOOK WHO'S BACK 👀
Your favorite is back!
Favorites Back in Stock!
Everyone's adorable bestie is back 🎀
Your Favorite Lingerie is Back! (But not for long 👀)
Missed me? Back in stock
Back in Stock: A Knit to Know
WOW! Back In Stock: But Not For Long
Love Everybody 🖤 Back In Stock
MUST-HAVE BACK IN STOCK
Back in stock and going fast 💨
BACK IN STOCK You Have Been Waiting
Our holiday gift to you: back-in-stock best sellers
Have any questions about back-in-stock email marketing? Let me know.
Email and SMS Marketing in 2024: 5 Trends to Expect
2023 was another record-setting year for e-commerce sales and the growth is expected to continue in 2024. How companies achieve their growth will depend on how effective they are with engaging their audience via different channels and subsequently maximizing the return on investment of those channels.
In all of this, one thing remains consistent year after year: opt-in channels continue to punch beyond their weight in terms of engagement and ROI. The trends from the past several years continued throughout 2023 and shed light on what we should expect to see from brands in 2024. Those trends include the following:
1. Email will continue its staying power.
While news headlines focus on the challenges of increasing e-commerce sales on social media sites, with their fluctuations in daily users, email keeps quietly engaging customers and generating sales. According to a recently released report, e-commerce brands sent 33 percent more promotional email campaigns and generated 17 percent more orders in 2023 than the year before.
The performance of marketing emails continues to be positive for retailers. Open and click rates for campaign emails increased year-over-year (YoY), meaning more people see and engage with the emails in their inbox.
2023 was another record-setting year for e-commerce sales and the growth is expected to continue in 2024. How companies achieve their growth will depend on how effective they are with engaging their audience via different channels and subsequently maximizing the return on investment of those channels.
In all of this, one thing remains consistent year after year: opt-in channels continue to punch beyond their weight in terms of engagement and ROI. The trends from the past several years continued throughout 2023 and shed light on what we should expect to see from brands in 2024. Those trends include the following:
1. Email will continue its staying power.
While news headlines focus on the challenges of increasing e-commerce sales on social media sites, with their fluctuations in daily users, email keeps quietly engaging customers and generating sales. According to a recently released report, e-commerce brands sent 33 percent more promotional email campaigns and generated 17 percent more orders in 2023 than the year before.
The performance of marketing emails continues to be positive for retailers. Open and click rates for campaign emails increased year-over-year (YoY), meaning more people see and engage with the emails in their inbox.
Expect brands to double down on this proven channel. In particular, by increasing their focus on improving their day-to-day email campaigns to maximize sales and finding ways to refine their email program strategy even further in 2024.
New Black Friday Marketing Report Shows Consumers Still Love Email and SMS
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, it’s a good time to assess how different marketing channels performed through another record-setting BFCM shopping period and what this can tell us about consumers’ shopping habits in 2024.
Looking at Omnisend’s recently released BFCM marketing report, which analyzed over 2.5 billion marketing emails, 29 million SMS, and 30 million web push messages sent by Omnisend merchants in November, five holiday shopping insights stuck out to me:
1. Companies Were Prepared for an Early Start
We anticipated an early start to the holiday shopping season — and we got it. Shoppers spent $76.8 billion online in October, up 5.9 percent year-over-year (YoY). Brands were well prepared with their marketing.
In October, brands sent 39.9 percent more emails and increased orders by 16.5 percent YoY. But while the send increase was consistent throughout the month, orders saw a heavier uptick in the second half. The week of Oct. 22 saw email orders increase by nearly 26 percent and 27.7 percent the following week.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, it’s a good time to assess how different marketing channels performed through another record-setting BFCM shopping period and what this can tell us about consumers’ shopping habits in 2024.
Looking at Omnisend’s recently released BFCM marketing report, which analyzed over 2.5 billion marketing emails, 29 million SMS, and 30 million web push messages sent by Omnisend merchants in November, five holiday shopping insights stuck out to me:
1. Companies Were Prepared for an Early Start
We anticipated an early start to the holiday shopping season — and we got it. Shoppers spent $76.8 billion online in October, up 5.9 percent year-over-year (YoY). Brands were well prepared with their marketing.
In October, brands sent 39.9 percent more emails and increased orders by 16.5 percent YoY. But while the send increase was consistent throughout the month, orders saw a heavier uptick in the second half. The week of Oct. 22 saw email orders increase by nearly 26 percent and 27.7 percent the following week.